Archive for July, 2008

Have You Hugged Your Barn Today?

Tuesday, July 29th, 2008

As humans we have more in common with each other than some people might realize. We all need to get at least 5 to 6 hours of sleep each and every night. We all need to eat food and drink water if we are to survive for very long. Every one of us has something that we are passionate about, being passionate is something that we all are born with.

One of my greatest passions is an old barn. I love them, hug them, collect them, dismantle them, and I creatively adapt the barn wood for new purposes. Right now I am taking old wood flooring from a barn that had a previous life on Patricia Island and I am now transforming the rare material into a bar top in my downtown Tulsa loft. Looking at the old and visualizing how I can transform it into something new is one of the ways that I explore and use my creativity.

What are you passionate about? What do you hug?

“Passion, though a bad regulator, is a powerful spring.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

My passion for barns was not something that I was aware of until I moved to Grand Lake. I discovered this passion quite by accident. One day when I was driving through the back roads of Grand Lake I passed a barn that I had admired for some time. It had a lot of character and I often wondered what stories it could have told of times past. That is why I was horrified to see that it was on fire. My heart raced as I drove straight to the barn and started pulling its smoldering wood out of the flames. I wondered why this wonderful barn wood was being so carelessly and permanently destroyed.

It was at that moment that I discovered a new passion within myself, a passion for barns and barn wood. I became a barn hugger. The important thing to remember is that things you are passionate about give you clues to better understanding and living your purpose in life. This was the first of many barns that I began saving and salvaging before they could be burned to the ground. They became one of the cornerstones of my purpose, which is making a positive difference and showcasing what is possible.

“A hug delights and warms and charms; that must be why God gave us arms.”
Author Unknown

We all have something we are passionate about enough to hug. What is it for you?

Dismantling and salvaging old barns is hard work, I mean really hard work. The first barn I dismantled was in Jay and I had no clue what to do or where to start, muscling the barn siding off with a crowbar was time consuming. Bugs, snakes, wasps, and heat made the work more challenging to say the least. I did not know what I did not know. I was fortunate to be able to enroll others into my vision and with their help figure out how to accomplish my goal of salvaging barns.

No one said that what you are passionate about will be easy or that it will not take effort to achieve. I could have chosen to throw in the towel and let my passion for barns go away. I could have let the hard work win. I could have given up and let my passion burn like the barn I found on the side of the road. Instead I persevered, because I felt passionately about my desire to salvage old barns and I could see how this was tied to my purpose. I now have over seven barns worth of wood saved from the flames of destruction, dismantled, stacked, and ready at anytime for a new life.

“Without passion man is a mere latent force and possibility, like the flint which awaits the shock of the iron before it can give forth its spark.” Amiel

Many of us identify and feel our passions, it is only natural, and then we do nothing with them. We do not take the next step which is to follow the passion and let it take us on a journey to a new place, a place where we can discover something new about ourselves and move closer to reaching our full potential. Many of us stop when we experience the passion and we run from the feeling. Your passions are what it is all about. Take them by horns and run with them. Nothing could be more important than to live your passions. You can do it!

In my life I have many passions and I work to fulfill and feed each and every one of them. Some are more challenging to fulfill than others and some are yet to be discovered. One thing is for sure. Being passionate about following your passions is one of the most important ways to make the most out of your life.

“Don’t ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that. Because what the world needs are people who have come alive.”
Harold Whitman

Have you hugged your barn today?

Let me know what you think.

Until next week, remember the only boxes that exist are the ones you create yourself.

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What’s Life all About

Friday, July 18th, 2008

Is it about doing the same thing day in and day out – get up, go to work, go home at night?

Is it about wishing you were doing something else, but never taking the initiative to change?

Is it about working towards the highest paying job?

Is it about working longer hours so you can buy more things?

Is it about being happy and enjoying what you have and needing less?

Is it about working towards the most comfortable retirement?

Is it about waking up to the realities of our time and working to make positive change?

Is it about helping people be the best they can be?

Is it about giving back to your community?

Is it about leaving behind a better world for our children, grandchildren and future generations?

What’s life all about?

Each and every day I wonder if anyone else is asking themselves these kinds of questions. It just seems that more and more I see people going through life without asking any hard questions about their lives, the impact their lives are having on others, or what it means to be human and to be alive on this planet today.

“I don’t see the point of being a human being if you’re not going to be responsible to your fellow human beings. Selfishness thefts away the human and reduces you to just a being.” Candea Core-Starke

Collectively we are having an impact on the world around us and at an ever increasing rate this impact is showing up and affecting our lives. Whether it is air pollution, the presence of pollutants in our lakes, rivers and oceans, the loss of our natural habitats, the price of gasoline, the rising costs of living, together we are impacting each other’s lives.

What’s life all about?

I think it is about each of us waking up to our full potential and taking responsibility for what we do. In all reality, all each of us can do is take responsibility for ourselves. That’s really all we have the ability to be responsible for if you think about it. You can only control one thing and that’s you. The decisions you make, the attitudes you have, the things that you do or don’t do, and the types of people you choose to hang out with are totally your responsibility.

It’s really about waking up and seeing the realities of the world as they are and then working to make positive contributions in the areas where you can make a difference. Yet, so many of us choose consciously or unconsciously to go through life totally unaware of how our behaviors and actions are impacting those around us.

“Good for the body is the work of the body, and good for the soul is the work of the soul, and good for either is the work of the other.” Henry David Thoreau

If you decide you want your behaviors and actions to contribute to the well being of your community and those around you, begin by taking care of yourself. If you want to create more positivity in your life, be more positive. If you want to create more abundance in your life, define what that means to you and focus on abundance rather than what is missing in your life. If you want to create more harmony and peace in your life, create a place for yourself where you can be at peace. If you want to be the best you can be, then be yourself. Only you can do it. No one can do it for you.

What’s life all about?

That is the question. I bet you have a good idea of what life is about if you take the time to reflect and think about it, even if it’s just for a few minutes.

You know more than you know you know, and you can be anything you want to be. It just takes hard work, persistence, intestinal fortitude, and a commitment to fulfill your purpose in life.

When you begin the journey of discovering who you are and your purpose in life, what life is all about will unfold for you.

“The important thing is this: To be able at any moment to sacrifice that which we are for what we could become.” Charles DuBois

There is no time like the present to take on the challenge and start or reinvigorate the journey.

Let me know what you think.

Dear Sean,
Your article last week “Going With the Flow” really got me thinking about how attached I am to having things go the way I’ve planned. If they don’t turn out the way I expect them to I get very anxious and upset. What can I do to just go with the flow?
Anxious in Miami

Dear Anxious,
Expectations can be very dangerous. When you are attached to your expectations you are setting yourself up for frustration and pain not just for yourself but for the people who you are placing the expectations on. The key is to consciously become aware when you are creating expectations, notice what you are expecting and then focus on letting go of the expectation. Say to yourself or out loud, “I have no expectations and am open to letting the natural flow of things take its course allowing me to be in a relaxed and peaceful place.” If you have the expectation come back stay aware and repeat the letting go process as many times as it takes. Like almost everything written in What Box? it takes practice and patience. Give it a try and let me know how it goes. You can do it!
Keep on keeping on,
Sean

Until next week, remember, the only boxes that exist are the ones you create for yourself.

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Going With the Flow

Sunday, July 13th, 2008

Have you ever noticed that when you try not to become something you don’t want to be the more you become that very thing? Or that the more you focus energy on what you fear the quicker that fear becomes reality? All of this has to do with resisting the way things are. When we are unaware of the flow of life we fight it and attempt to change a situation to suit our particular needs, fears, or desires. The world would be quite a different place if we all would learn how to let life just happen.

“If you don’t like something change it; if you can’t change it, change the way you think about it.” Mary Engelbreit

Going with the flow means accepting what is and not necessarily what it is you desire. We all fear losing control and yet overcoming our fear of losing control supports our ability to go with the flow. All of us are happy when things go well, but when things aren’t going “my” way or the way “I” want we get upset and then attract more of the same. This is how the flow of life works. We can’t control everything, even if we would like to think we can, which causes us to resist what is and to go against the flow of life. What we can do is to respond to what is and come up with creative solutions to adapt to a situation or to change it, enabling us to go with the flow of life.

Are you going with or against the flow of life?

“Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.” Winston Churchill

One reason we kick ourselves out of the flow is because we are attached to outcomes. Here is where resistance comes in. We set our expectations in such a way that we become attached that a certain outcome will turn out the way we envisioned it. When the outcome does not go the way we expect we tend to go against the flow and create negativity in our lives. It is important to visualize positive outcomes in life. The key is to visualize these outcomes for the highest good of yourself and others. Then here is the challenging part. Once we have our outcome visualized we need to detach from it. No small task that is for sure. That doesn’t mean that we need to give up. It means we need to take creative initiative to respond to the situation in a different way.

Do you trust the life process?

“I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it.” Pablo Picasso

I can remember a time back in 1997 when I was running StudioFX, an up and coming Internet company in Silicon Valley. Like many start up companies we had our fair share of cash flow problems and funding issues. It was during one of these down cycles that money became tight. We had successfully secured exclusive Internet broadcast and ecommerce rights to a number of classic television shows including the Underdog Show and the Lone Ranger. The Underdog show and Lone Ranger were with Golden Books Entertainment and we were obligated to pay licensing fees for the rights. As timing would have it our fees became due during this monetary down cycle.

My first thought was, “How am I going to keep these agreements if I can’t pay for them?” Funding in the pipeline was partially attached to these contracts and others being negotiated. If we lost these deals things could be a challenge going forward. I was losing control and had to do something, even if I did nothing that was something. It would have been easy to stick my head in the sand and do nothing and wonder when I would get the call that our contract was up. I could have given up. Instead, I took creative initiative to respond to the situation in a different way. I took a risk and called Golden Books to discuss our money challenges and that payment was going to be a little late. To my surprise they were more than willing to extend the time for payment on my licensing fees. All my fears and projections of having to control the situation were not accurate at all. To this day whenever I am in need of being reminded of the power of being in the flow I just think of Underdog.

What examples do you have of being in the flow?

The reality is that we are already in the flow of life. The question is are we going to resist and object to what life presents us or are we going to take creative initiative to respond to what is? Life has its cycles that at times are up and others are down. When you become aware of the flow of life and embrace the power of letting go of control and fear you align with the currents and flow of life. You receive what you need, rather than what you want. The interesting part of going with the flow is that over time these two dynamics have a strong magnetic attraction to each other and at some point unite.

The fact is that this kind of life awareness is not easy. I have to work on it everyday, every hour and every minute. Sometimes I fail miserably. Sometimes I am in the flow so much that every event of the day plays out with ease and grace. I continually have to remind myself to focus on creating each day for a higher good, to let go and surrender from being tied to specific outcomes. I figure it will take the rest of my life to get this one down.

“Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

With practice you can learn to go with the flow as well.

Let me know what you think.

Until next week, remember the only boxes that exist are the ones you create yourself.

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232

Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008

If you are like Mike Long, Brian Ruth, and many of the other folks on Grand Lake, Independence Day means it is time to celebrate the day our country came into its own by blowing some *&%$@ up.

Nothing else can excite the soul like a great fireworks show. With this in mind it is not surprising that Americans import over $200 million worth of fireworks from China each year. It would not surprise me if at least 1% of those fireworks will be exploded right here on Grand Lake. Love it!

This year we will celebrate the 232nd anniversary of our founding fathers signing the Declaration of Independence. This act set the original 13 colonies on the road to national sovereignty and laid the foundation for the lives we enjoy here in America today.

“I am whatever you make me, nothing more. I am your belief in yourself, your dream of what a people may become…. I am the clutch of an idea, and the reasoned purpose of resolution. I am no more than you believe me to be and I am all that you believe I can be. I am whatever you make me, nothing more.” Franklin Knight Lane

In 1776 we had 2.5 million people living in our newly independent nation. Today over 300 million people are living in America. The incredible growth that has taken place only highlights how much things have changed in such a short period of time, 232 years. Our founding fathers were wise to create a Constitution that is not only very complex, but at the same time broad in scope. The foresight of these men gives us an opportunity to interpret the greatest law in our land in a way that is adaptable and relevant to our changing nation. The choices that we make today will determine whether or not our country will be able to provide a healthy and meaningful environment for future generations of Americans and set a continued example for the rest of the world.

“My God! How little do my countrymen know what precious blessings they are in possession of, and which no other people on earth enjoy!” Thomas Jefferson

When Benjamin Franklin was helping to shape the Constitution he could not have known that we would become the greatest military force on the planet. That we would put a man on the Moon, and, at the time of this writing, analyze in real-time minerals and soil on Mars. How could he have known about the Internet’s ability to share information at the speed of light? It took Ben over three months traveling by sea to get a message to France.

Thomas Jefferson could not have foreseen that the average American would be producing 52 tons of garbage by the time they reached 75 years of age in 2008. In his day people bought their food in the local market often packaged in materials that could be reused for quilts or clothing. Back then people traveled days or perhaps weeks by horseback, stagecoach, or train. The idea that over 28,000 planes would be flying through the friendly skies each day taking people all across this country and around the world and would be using over 2 million plastic cups every 12 hours was out of the realm of possibility.

James Wilson could not have conceived that Americans would drink water from over 2 million plastic bottles ever 5 minutes since water in those days was pumped from wells in and round their towns. He could not have predicted that we would be using cell phones to communicate with each other in real-time anywhere in the world, disposing of 426,000 cell phones every day so that we could keep up with the modern technological advances of the day. Communication in those days was by horse messengers like Paul Revere and mail took weeks if not months instead of days to arrive at its destination.

John Adams would have been laughed at if he had suggested that Americans would shop so much that they would go through over 60,000 plastic bags every 5 seconds, or that office workers would print over 15 million sheets of paper every 5 minutes of every day.

Things have changed a lot since the Declaration of Independence was signed 232 years ago. The amount of change that American has experienced in the past 232 years is phenomenal. What is even more amazing is the fact that in the last 40 years there have been more changes than all the changes that took place before the late 1960’s. This is a wake up call to the level of accelerated change that we can expect to see going forward in the months and years ahead.

“Today the world changes so quickly that in growing up we take leave not just of youth but of the world we were young in.” Peter Medawar

Our country has been an inspiration to the rest of the world. We have inspired a world to live the American dream, a dream that has fueled some of the greatest inventions and a spirit of giving that the world has never seen before. We have promoted this dream and excited countries and people worldwide who want what we have been so good at creating. Think about China for just a minute. At the current rates of purchasing there will be 1.3 billion cars in China by 2015. To put this into perspective there are only 800 million cars operating in the entire world today. It will take half of China’s rice fields to be turned into roads to handle this number of cars, and India, with its 1.1 billion people, is working just as hard to capture and live the American Dream.

We are blessed to live in this country, and with these blessings come the same kind of responsibility and influence of our founding fathers. If we are to leave an America to our children like the one we have experienced we are all going to have to change. Besides taxes, change is the only thing we can count on for sure.

This year as you are watching the fireworks bursting in the sky over Grand Lake think about the kinds of changes you would like to create to insure a healthy and meaningful life for you and that of others in your community. You have the power within you to do anything to which you set your mind and heart. You have unlimited potential and so does America!

“It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” Author unknown

Let me know what you think.

Until next week, remember the only boxes that exist are the ones you create yourself.

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